Fresh Start
by purplegirl761
Summary: Nearly a year after "Graduation," a basically-reformed Shego has time to think about some things...and some people.


AUTHOR'S NOTE: This can be read as either a friendship or a romance, I guess. After all, Graduation itself left it more ambigious than I expected (From what I'd heard, I was expecting them to be confessing their love for each other and kissing or something). I actually wrote it as them finally developing a genuine, mutual friendship that may eventually turn into something more. If you want to read it differently, go right ahead. I'm not stopping you. ;)

Gah. I iz being long-winded this morning. I'll shut up now and let you actually read the story.

*********

She trudges home, fists clenched at her sides, breath heaving slightly. She hasn't _meant _to be a crimefighter, it just keeps happening somehow. And now, she's experienced a failure, for the first time in her year as a sort-of-crimefighter. And it's all _his _fault.

She was standing in line at the bank to make a withdraw (a _legal _one, thank you very much), when some ametuer thug came up and demanded all the money in the bank or he'd hurt everybody, blah blah blah blah. Sheesh, where's the creativity in that?

Dude, it could very well be _her _money Lame Bank Robber was going to be carting out. And even if it wasn't, it was _somebody__'__s _money.

She sighed then before she activated her plasma glow and jumped right into Lame Bank Robber's path. This conscience thing was getting to be a real pain in the tail.

She, of course, was able to take him down easily. Just flung him to the ground and sat on his legs, holding her hands a few inches from his face. "Hi there," she cooed. "Care to give back that money? In case you haven't noticed, it doesn't belong to you."

The robber opened his mouth as if to say something, but before he could, another voice chirped out, "Hi, Shego!"

She brought her head up and got a face full of ponytail.

Drakken. The little pest.

He was standing there, obviously on his way to work, because he was in a T-shirt and jeans, the waistband of which was currently halfway down his negligible hips, face beaming. At least it was beaming until he saw the glare she turned on him. Then he wilted. "Oh, sorry. Is this a bad time?"

"A little bit, yeah," she replied, tightening her grip around Bank Robber Man's legs.

"Oh. Hey, can I help?" Before she could even answer (_no way, Jose_), Drakken reached down and grabbed the robber's arms.

The robber easily wrenched one arm out of Drakken's tiny hands, reached up, and popped the Doc - hard - on the chin. He let go of the other arm with a yelp that would have put a whole litter of puppies to shame.

Something about that sent the anger pounding through her veins. _That_, at least, she was used to. _That_, at least, she knew what to do with.

Hissing through her teeth, she leapt off Lame Bank Robber, snatched him up over her head, and hurled him into the side of the wall. Several people stopped and stared as if they couldn't believe she could throw a guy her own height.

_All in a day__'__s work for me, guys. _

Then, to her own surprise, she knelt by the still-squalling Drakken and looked him over. He was okay. So pale that the scar looked 3-D, but okay. Just scared, probably. She shook her head. After all this time, he's still a wimp.

Unfortunately, in the few minutes it took to make sure he hadn't knocked out any teeth or anything, the robber had regained consciousness and crawled away. He hadn't taken the bag of money with him - thank goodness for small favors - but he hadn't been captured.

And that's what's making her stomp on her way down the sidewalk to her house. That, and the fact that it's her birthday, and no one seems to remember. Not that she wants people to pop out of the bushes and start singing "Happy Birthday" and smothering her with hugs - because she'll fry them if they do; that's just _way _over-the-top - but would a simple, "Hey, happy birthday, girl!" be too much to ask?

She shakes her head. Nah. She doesn't need that. What is she, going soft or something?

Then she stops. And stares. For a very, very long time.

Sitting on her front porch are two vases filled with flowers, each with a piece of paper propped up on it. _What?_

She picks up the first vase. Crammed inside it are far too many roses that smell far too sweet. She likes the smell of roses, but less is more in this case. The piece of paper resting next to it reads, in four different handwritings, _To our sister._

Ugh. She should have known that Hego would go way overboard with his gifts. He always did when they were kids.

Still, that's kind of nice. Now that she doesn't have to see her brothers too often, she can almost tolerate them again. Almost.

The second vase isn't nearly as fancy. Matter of fact, it's plastic and holds only a single hydrangea.

She loves hydrangeas. And who has she ever told that to? At least, who was listening?

She picks up the second card. In scribby handwriting it says, _To my honorary sister. Thanks for everything._

Down at the bottom, it adds in tiny letters, _P.S. This is from Drakken, by the way._

_Darn_ him. Why does he have to go and be sweet when she's trying to be annoyed with him?

She freezes with her hand on the doorknob. Since when does she think of Dr. D. as sweet?

And, hard as she tries not to let them, the flashes begin.

_Flash!_

She stared at the paper on which she'd scribbled down the names and phone numbers of a bunch of known supervillains. Of all of them, only a few hadn't leered when they saw her and offered her a sidekick position _right away_ without even interviewing her (the sickos), and most of them had waved her away with something along the lines of, "You're young and pretty. What can _you _do?"

She'd shown them what she could do. That thought made her smile.

But only one guy hadn't done either one of those - well, at least, one guy who seemed to actually need her. That one blue guy - the one who reminded her of an exclamation point with a ponytail - what was his name? Oh, yeah. There he was.

_I just know I__'__m gonna regret this._

She took a deep breath and tapped out the number.

_Flash!_

She pulled up in front of Bueno Nacho. If her calculations were correct, Drakken should be coming out right about - now.

Sure enough, there he was, shoulders slumping, whole face pulled nearly down to his big chin, eyebrow practically covering his eyes. He kicked at a flimsy cup, sending it sprawling across the parking lot, and folded his arms indignantly over his chest.

She rolled her eyes. Wow. The cloning plan hadn't worked out. What a surprise.

For some reason she'd never been able to explain, she laid her hand on the steering wheel and honked. Drakken's head came up, eyes annoyed.

Until he saw it was her.

Then his whole face lit up and he raced across the parking lot, arms outstretched. "Shego!" he cried. "Shego! You came back!"

She almost smiled. It felt nice to be needed.

Though he had _so_ better not be thinking about hugging her.

_Flash!_

Drakken peeked his face out from behind the crack in the wall, eyes hesitant. "Just...if you need anything," he squeaked out in that quiet voice she'd only heard from him a couple of times.

_Flash!_

"Shego!" The giant-robot...thing's visor popped open, and Drakken poked his head out, brown eyes darting in all directions. "Kim Possible's computer kid called me up and told me you were at the mercy of a villain!" He closed his eyes into slits. "Where is this _Aviarius_?"

For a moment, she could only stare. His voice and eyes were hard in a way she'd never seen or heard them be. He looked like he wanted to make that robot step on Aviarius and enjoy every minute of it.

Man, this was embarrassing.

_Flash!_

"Just remember, pal," she said through tightened teeth, "anything you can do, I can do better."

Drakken nodded and swallowed hard. "Okay."

_Flash!_

Oh, goody. One whole hour outside. Will the fun never end?

They walked past the men's side of the prison, where the guys were having _their _one hour outside. Two men were sitting at a picnic table near the fence, talking.

She spotted Motor Ed's big ol' shoulders and stupid mullet and growled under her breath. Now _there _was somebody she'd like to fry into ashes. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have gotten a sweet, intoxicating taste of freedom and then slapped back in here. That, and a couple of other things...

For a minute, she didn't recognize the scraggly-haired guy next to him, until he whipped his face around. Drakken.

She hadn't seen him up close for six months, and even though she was angry at him - _furious _at him - if his stupid plan had worked, she wouldn't be here right now at all - well, she felt her eyebrows go up at the sight of him. He looked like he'd lost twenty pounds since she'd last seen him. The biggest things on him were the raccoon-circles under his eyes, stark black against a face the palest shade of blue possible.

At the time, she didn't care except to feel a twinge of triumph. Good. He was miserable, too. Served him right.

She was about to toss her head and walk away when she heard Drakken's far-too-familiar voice yelp, "For the last time, Eddy, she is _not _my girlfriend! And she's not yours, either."

"Dude, I know, cuz," Motor Ed replied. "She totally went all Hulk Hogan on me, seriously!" He let out a long sigh. "Man, I dig a babe who can scrap."

She saw Drakken's shoulders go tight. "She's not a _babe_, Eddy. She's a person."

Motor Ed cocked his head and squinted. "Dude, I dunno know what you're talkin' about!" He shrugged. "Hey, can you help me with the air guitar thingie? Ever since I got here, my G-cord has been a little flat..."

"No, no, no." Drakken shook his head. "We need to talk, 'dude.' Remember that talk my mom gave us when we, like, twelve? About respecting women?"

Motor Ed gave a grunt. "I was bein' nice to her. Seriously! I even gave her some gum to chew!"

_Which tasted like tar, by the way, motor-oil-for-brains._

"Not 'nice.' 'Respectful.' The point is," Drakken got up from the picnic table then and started to pace, hands behind his back, head down like a nervous chicken, "you need to respect girls, especially those that maim you when you don't."

They drifted out of earshot then.

_Flash!_

"Look, look, just get on your pajamas and go to bed, then. I'll be back tomorrow."

"I'm not moving! It hur-urts!"

She squatted down to meet the now-aquamarine face pressed against the floor. "Not. My. Problem. Haven't I warned you about consuming twice your weight in cupcakes?"

Drakken's droopy eyes gave an indignant snap. "You're not the boss of - oh, no." Those same eyes flew open wide.

She flicked one eyebrow. "What?"

"_Ohhh_, man," was all she received in reply.

She got one of the empty cupcake boxes in front of him just in time.

_Dis_-gust.

_Flash!_

Okay. She wasn't sure entirely what was going on here, but she'd just been zapped by something kind of painful. And that made her kind of angry.

Kimmie and her stupid sidekick were there, and it was a good bet that they were somehow responsible for whatever this was. She advanced on them, hands glowing, even as it slowly came back to her what was going on.

Then a hovercraft swooshed by overhead, and a voice, pleading, hollered down, "She-_go!_ I need you!"

No, duh.

_Flash!_

A green glow came down from the spaceship and, even as Drakken yammered on about his mother being able to knit "like a fiend" - as if fiends knit - sucked him straight up. Then it just disappeared, and the night was silent. Calm. As if nothing had ever happened.

She gaped up at the stars. _What the heck am I supposed to do _now_?_

_Flash!_

The doors of the spaceship opened, and there he was, standing right next to Kimmie, face in its usual pout.

Thank whoever was running this universe that he was okay.

She hadn't felt this way since she was twelve years old and the Wegos had gotten lost at Smarty Mart. When she found them, she'd actually hugged them.

She was halfway across the room before she realized she was about to do the same thing to Drakken. He froze with his arms ready to go around her, too.

_Well. This is awkward._

_Flash!_

She stared out at the room of good guys in front of her, waiting for her to go and announce her reformation. She hesitated. These guys had been her mortal enemies for a long, long time. They wouldn't welcome her with open arms. They wouldn't forgive her. People didn't work like that, she'd discovered.

Drakken, apparently, mistook her cynicism for nervousness and grabbed her wrists, beaming into her face. "Come on, Shego. You can change."

She lifted one side of her mouth and grunted. "And you know this how?"

"Because." He gave a little hunch of his shoulders. "I did it. And remember -" his eyes danced - "anything I can do, you can do better."

The little pest.

_Flash!_

And now, here she is. She never imagined she'd be here. Actually reformed. Actually almost beginning to _like _being reformed.

And, no, Dr. D. isn't such a bad guy. A pain, sure, but he _is _her friend. Not too many people have been loyal the way he has. Maybe humanity isn't doomed after all.

_No. Thank _you _for everything._

She knows she'll never be able to tell him that. Reformed or not, she still has a reputation to uphold. She'll just have to be nice to him to show it.

She sighs deeply. Yep. This conscience thing is really getting to be a pain in the rear.


End file.
